Sukhi announced as a Finalist in the Asian Women of Achievements Awards

MarketOrders speaks at the Diversity in Tech conference

June

MarketOrders invited to the London Stock Exchange to celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship

Sukhi announced as a winner in the Rising Star Entrepreneur by WeAreTheCity Awards

MarketOrders speaks at London Blockchain Summit on Retail and blockchain and Women of Silicon Valley conference on raising investment

July

Sukhi announced as a top ‘35 woman to Watch’ by Management Today and featured in The Sunday Telegraph

MarketOrders beats 20 companies to win 1st prize of £100k investment at the London Blockchain Accelerator

MarketOrders speaks at Unbound conference, Department of International Trade on Women In Tech

MarketOrders appears on the Women’s Business Radio Show

August

MarkerOrders featured as a success story after graduating from the London & Partners Programme:

September

MarketOrders speaks at The European Entrepreneur Summit, E-commerce Blockchain Conference and Ministry of Entrepreneurship Conference

Sukhi announced as a semi-finalist in the Venus Awards for 2 categories: Influential Woman & Inspirational Women in Tech

October

Sukhi is one of 4 startup founder stories to be profiled for the launch of a nationwide campaign called #OneTechNation to inspire more women and individuals from underrepresented communities to consider starting an ambitious startup. Watch the video here:

MarketOrders attends an invite-only Roundtable discussion on the impact of Brexit on starts ups in London

MarketOrders invited to The London Stock Exchange Studies for an interview on technology trends in the gold industry. Interview coming soon!

November

Sukhi announced a finalist in the Catherine Variety Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit

MarketOrders announced a Top 100 European Digital Pioneer by The Financial Times & Google beating 4,000 nominations across Europe!

MarketOrders announced as a Community Partner for Tech Inclusion at Bloomberg to foster more diversity in tech

MarketOrders speaks at Business Growth Programmes Scaling to Success Conference

Invited to invite only Roundtable with Deputy Mayor Rajesh Agarwal on how to better support Female Asian Entrepreneurs

Plans for 2019

In 2019 we have big plans so watch this space. You will even have a chance to be a part of the MarketOrders team as we prepare to crowdfund soon. Sign up to the newsletter to stay up to date or drop Sukjhi or Ram a message on LinkedIn.

We will be focused on expanding our UK market share, entering into European markets, focused on new customer acquisition and exponential growth.

And Finally….

A massive THANK YOU to all our customers, partners and team and everyone who supports us in growing and developing MarketOrders.

OneTech is a ground-breaking new initiative, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, to provide female entrepreneurs, and those from some of London’s most underrepresented communities, with the opportunity to start and scale a high growth tech business.

The lack of diversity costs the tech industry dearly in untapped potential, talent and growth. Capital Enterprise has long recognised that this needs to change.

This project will connect founders with mentors and access a range of workspace, pre-acceleration, acceleration and investment readiness opportunities.

We are aiming to get businesses to better understand why diversity and inclusion makes sense; what needs to be done to help diversify their recruitment and selection processes; and double the number of female and BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) founders accessing investment by 2020.

We hope to inspire more women and individuals from underrepresented communities to consider starting an ambitious startup, and affect real change with supply, demand and culture change in London’s booming tech ecosystem.

#WeAreOneTech

While the volatility is positive for speculative investors, it is also causing more hesitancy on the part of consumers to use it as a reliable fiat currency alternative. Unfortunately, the cryptocurrency craze has attracted too many ICO startups whose intentions are focused solely on watching their valuation being pushed to the pinnacle by the speculators. Often, there is no other utility outside of their cryptocurrency merely being a way to inflate their bank accounts.

MarketOrders solves the problem and challenges faced by offline retailers in dealing with millennial generations of consumers by creating a tech marketplace for them. Millenials are Smartphone driven and attention deficit and need to be able to access information on demand and on their mobiles.

MarketOrders is bringing a Converging platform for offline retailers to future proof it by embracing new technologies using blockchain technology- NOT the least of which is the advent of cryptocurrency.

Blockchain invented a trust-less decentralized currency, owned and transacted by entire communities and movements. This could not be accomplished with traditional [fiat] currency in the circulation.

For the first time in the modern history, communities can be served by currencies of choice without geographical boundaries, language, race, and religion restriction.

Despite a multifold of possibilities this new technology presents, it is critical that MarketOrders focuses initially on embracing this digital era and the millennial uprising that is causing disruption to offline retailers [brick and mortar].

This trend is being driven by a desire to tap into the rise of the experiential economy.

This experience became the blueprint for every brick and mortar shops. Digitization brings so much of convenience but customers are still looking for surprises and spontaneity in their shopping experience, which can only be achieved with a physical environment.

This actually creates positive tension between convenience and smart shopping with the experiential element to it and bring realization to an entire retail industry that in today’s digital and fast-moving technology world, only remain constant is the change.

Therefore, retailers are under pressure to move quickly to implement technology into their business. Retailers are constantly seeking technologies to both bolster customer experience and increase efficiency. To execute this vision of online and in-store experiences powered by technology, retailers need to leverage the critical skill sets of both business leaders and infrastructure and operations professionals, which can be very expensive for small retailers.

It’s been a winning week for MarketOrders who this week won first prize at the Blockchain Accelerator held in London on 6-8th July.

Sukhi Jutla, MarketOrders co-founder and COO pitched to a panel of judges and investors and won the winning pitch from 20 other companies competing for the top prize.

This win is further testament to the work we are doing at MarketOrders as well as the realisation that the gold industry is ripe for disruption. And this is exactly what the investors see – they see incredible growth opportunity with MarketOrders.

This win also signifies MarketOrders entry into the blockchain space where we this technology will be used to create trusted transactions across the gold jewellery industry where currently only 4% of gold jewellery transactions occur online due to a lack of trust in the marketplace. MarketOrders is on a mission to change this and to bring greater transparency across the gold industry.

In the previous post, we touched upon how MarketOrders is using a three-pronged strategy approach. These are centralisation, creating unique IP and e-commerce. In this post, we deep dive into each of these approaches and show why the gold industry needs to adopt a centralised platform.

The first strategy as an entry point is to create a centralized platform for the entire Gold Jewellery Industry This will allow retailers visibility and to conduct trade securely. These include discovering new jewellery designs and managing their common audit trail between counterparties on a single platform. In the first instance, MarketOrders platform allows retailers and manufacturers to buy and sell gold jewellery and grow their business.

Gold jewellery retailers and manufacturers do not have resources such as expertise and capabilities to digitize their retail shop offerings. This is why its essential to have a digital marketplace. Once retailers get used to trading online, MarketOrders platform can expand quickly to emerging countries and expand the gold jewellery business growth digitally. Global buy, Local sales.

The Second pronged strategy of MarketOrders is by creating Unique IP as a value-adding component of the platform. This includes our unique ‘On Demand Order Aggregator’ system via our smart router system and data-driven supply and demand scoring system.

This IP will serve as a unique and inimitable differentiator. As the density of the platform increases, developers can create more attractive IP for MarketOrders platform, which will create higher demand and leads to a greater usage of the platform. This will create a virtuous circle.

The third pronged strategy is by MarketOrders providing centralization and concentrated digitize commerce for the Gold jewellery industry. It also can leverage its position to allay fears among traders on the platform.

MarketOrders is a non-manufacturer and non-retailer to allay competitive fears among traders who are using MarketOrders Platform.

All these three strategies establish MarketOrders platform as the dominant standard to digitize Gold Jewellery commerce.

The gold jewellery industry is a very ancient industry. It is as old as civilisation itself and its one of the few industries which haven’t been revolutionised by the use of technology…until now that is!

MarketOrders is on a mission to bring unity and centralisation to this fragmented industry. And for the gold industry to become digital, they must first be bought into centralisation.

To understand this better, let us consider planes and passengers. For example, when there is no airport, just imagine the scenario. Planes land in any available space to land the aircraft and board the passenger and head back to the destination.

Now, this situation would cause havoc in the aviation industry. The passenger has to go to any landing space of aircraft NOT knowing which destination the plane will head back to. And this happens because there is no visibility of demand and supply.

Now, apply this scenario of an airport or hub to that of a centralised platform. You now have total visibility of what planes are available and how many passengers want to take a flight. The passengers will have visibility of which aircraft are at which terminals. They will know what time the planes will leave and which destinations they are heading in.

The airport concept serves as a centralised mechanism, not just as a centralised infrastructure connecting passengers, planes and destinations but also providing retail offerings such as shops, restaurants and shopping mall experiences.

MarketOrders can leverage a similar system by providing a centralised hub for the gold jewellery industry. This would enable multiple participants such as manufacturers and retailers to collaborate in many ways.

As an initial adoption of strategy in building the first ever concentrated market via centralization, MarketOrders is using a three-pronged strategy approach. These are centralisation, creating unique IP and e-commerce. In the next blog post, we take a deep dive into this unique approach.

The gold jewellery industry is a very ancient industry. It is as old as civilisation itself when early humans would gift gold and adorn it on their bodies. From day one it has had a cultural and personal significance. And thousands of years later, it still remains an untapped and fragmented market where technology has yet to make it smark on this industry worth $175 billion dollar industry.

Today, this industry still operates in a highly fragmented and scattered manner. As a result, the industry must re-invent itself as a hub suited for the digital world.

Today in digitally dominated economies, marketplaces offer customers the opportunity to connect with one another. The Gold Jewelry industry must adopt this approach of a centralized marketplace. In a way, the marketplace is the most ancient way of trading goods. And this is also where the digital age has gravitated towards – a marketplace that is truly global in scale with thanks to technology.

A digitised centralised platform will act as a key advantage for sellers and buyers by allowing them to connect through a digitally initiated platform.

Today, digital technologies are changing the nature of globalization. The digital economy is driven by the rapid growth of a digital transformation and it’s happening at a breakneck speed.

The MarketOrders platform will be an engine of innovation for gold jewellery retailers specifically and retailers in general SME’s as it will allow them to participate in international trade without the need to invest in their own technology-driven supply chain.

In the changing landscape, gold jewellery retailers and the entire industry needs to re-imagine and re-invent its position in centralised platforms and leverage its current strength in physical gold trade retailing to create a new digital trade.

WeAreTheCity shines the spotlight on 200 remarkable women as part of their Rising Star Awards shortlist

WeAreTheCity are proud to announce the shortlist for their 2018 Rising Star Awards.

The Rising Star Awards, now in their fourth year, are the first to focus on the UK’s female talent pipeline below management level. Through these awards, we will celebrate 100 individual female contributors that represent the leaders and role models of tomorrow. We hope that by raising the profile of our shortlist and winners, we will also encourage organisations to consider how they strengthen the development of their female pipeline in the future.

The 200-strong shortlist showcases remarkable women within the UK from across 20 categories representing different industries/professions. An example of the amazing women shortlisted this year are; Georgia Shiels, Racing Driver, Georgia Shiels Racing; Madeline Pizzoni, Helicopter Pilot, British Army and Krystal Archer, DJ & Social Entrepreneur, SuperFoxx.

The Rising Star awards also include a Company of the Year award, which recognises the achievements of a company who can demonstrate that they are actively supporting and developing their female talent pipeline through initiatives, training, development programmes and/or internal employee relations groups. Shortlisted companies this year are Barclays, J. P. Morgan and Sky.

The awards will continue to celebrate Rising Star Champions, recognising the efforts of senior leaders who are actively supporting the female pipeline, included in this year’s shortlist are Chris Stylianou, COO, UK & Ireland, Sky and Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, Lawyer and Equality Campaigner.

Recognising that careers for women may follow different timescales, the Rising Star Awards do not have any age restrictions included within the criteria guidelines. WeAreTheCity feels it has a responsibility to ensure that female talent, regardless of age and background, receives the necessary support and skills to transition into key decision-making roles within our organisations.

Chris Duncan, Managing Director, Times Newspaper Ltd, said “It has been a tumultuous year for gender politics across the world, and programs that nurture the next generation of female talent have never been more important. We at The Times and The Sunday Times are delighted to continue to support the Rising Star Awards to recognise the tremendous work being done by the next generation of leaders across British industry. We would like to wish this years shortlisted individuals the very best of luck.”

Vanessa Vallely, Founder of WeAreTheCity, said, “The calibre of entries this year has been truly exceptional. I am so excited to meet our shortlisted individuals at NewsUK to celebrate their success. Every one of these women should be extremely proud of their achievements. They are key contributors to their industries and outstanding role models. I wish them the very best of luck in the final round of judging.”

All shortlisted individuals will be invited to celebrate their achievements at an event hosted by NewsUK on 6 June. The 200 women will now face the final judging period and the public vote. The overall top 100 winners will be announced on 18 June 2018.

The winners will then be celebrated on 12 July 2018 at a prestigious evening reception and awards ceremony at NewsUK in London alongside our judges and sponsors.

Our co-founder, Sukhi Jutla, was a finalist in the entrepreneur category of the AWA Awards and we celebrated the event last week with a gala dinner held in association with NatWest, the 2018 Awards were held in the presence of Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex, Her Grace The Duchess of Wellington, Tulip Siddiq MP, Baroness Amos, Director, SOAS University of London, Rachel Johnson, Journalist, Author, Lewis Lukens, Deputy Chief of Mission for the US Embassy in London and actress Amrit Maghera

The Asian Women of Achievement Awards, founded by Pinky Lilani CBE DL in 1999, celebrate multicultural Britain and the contribution of diverse cultures and talents to UK society. We put on a platform, the phenomenal Asian women across the UK and across industries, who are making a valuable and important contribution to British life. The awards play a key role in redefining the contribution of Asian women; and informing a new, positive, pro-diversity debate.

Sukhi said, ‘I feel honoured I was selected as a finalist in the entrepreneur category and I hope to use this platform to further shine a spotlight on the amazing things female founders and entrepreneurs are doing”.

Here are a few pics from the eve and it was great to also meet HRH Countess of Wessex, definitely a photo moment!